No Regrets in the Future
by Elf-Vulcan
Summary: [Camaradarie series] Spike and Faye talk on the way back to their ships after turning in Whitney. Rated PG for one swear. (Rewritten.)


Disclaimer: I don't own Cowboy Bebop. There it is, sweet & simple.  
  
A/N: I think this goes with my last one shot Tears for a Warrior. I think I'll call them the "Camaraderie series" as I suspect there'll be more of these one-shots. No guarantees though. P.S. For those of you who read this before, I've changed a few things to try and smooth it out a bit. No major plot or dialogue changes.   


I was surprised to see that Spike was still here. I figured that he'd left right after collecting the bounty, leaving me to watch Whitney being locked up. I'm not even sure why I stayed to see him put behind bars. I guess it provided some sort of closure for me. I dunno.

After teasing Spike for waiting around, I stretched. "I'm still in the dark. I may never know anything about my past." Darn. I was thinking out loud again. I really should put a stop to this habit.

"Doesn't really matter, does it?" Spike remarked as he passed me on the steps.

"Easy for you to say, at least you have a past." Really, Spike can be so irritating.

"And you have a future." He tossed a coin over his shoulder at me. "That's what counts."

I caught the coin before it hit me in the head. "What's this?"

"It's your share of the bounty. The big nineteen thousand, eight hundred reward."

"You're kidding." Whoa, Jet sure got his facts wrong.

"The smallest of the small fry." He said as headed off to where we left the ships.

I couldn't help but smile slightly. "That's for sure." I hurried to catch up to him. I always had a hard time keeping up with Spike. His legs were just too long.

"I still wish I knew about my past." The subject had already been breached, so I didn't see any reason not to continue. 

Besides, I didn't really feel like keeping to myself right now.

Spike groaned. "You don't know how lucky you are. Some people would give a lot to forget their past like you have."

"Lucky?" Boy, was he ever wrong. "Maybe if someone had something worth forgetting they'd consider me 'lucky.' But no one should have their memory erased without their permission." 

I expected a sarcastic retort, so I was surprised when he simply replied, "Yeah, I guess you're right." Head down, hands shoved in his pockets.

I blinked. Spike Spiegal, Mr. Self-assured, know-it-all, Spiegal had just admitted that I was right. Wow.

"Do you think they erased your memory on purpose?"

The question caught me by surprise. "They could've I guess. I've never really thought about that possibility."

"It seems pretty likely. That 'doctor' was probably in on the whole thing. He sounded like quite the underhanded type. And that girl with him too."

Yeah, he was right. But how'd he know about the nurse? "Were you eavesdropping on our conversation back there?" I wheeled to glare at him.

  
Oh yeah. Dumb Faye, real dumb. Oh well, irritability always served me well as a cover for embarrassment, or any emotion for that matter.  


I ran to catch up, then planted myself in front of him. "What the h*** were you doing back there anyway? Shooting at me like that?" Really. We're supposed to be on the same team. Relatively speaking that is.  


He seemed to give up hope of getting to the ships anytime soon, and instead lit up a cigarette. "You were running off with the bounty."  


"So? Is that any reason to shoot your partner to pieces?"  


He shrugged. "You would have done the same."  


Well, he had a point there. I laughed. "You've got that right. So don't ever try it."  


He chuckled and then resumed walking.  


A question that had been bugging me ever since we left Callisto came to my mind. Eh, now was as good a time to ask as any I guess. "Who's Julia?"  


He tensed up slightly, and shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. "Someone I used to know very well. End of discussion."  


"Ok, ok. No need to get upset." I retorted. That came out harsher then I'd intended, but I was covering up for my surprise. This Julia person really strikes a nerve in Spike. I could tell.  


"Yeah, whatever." He mumbled as we reached the Swordfish and the Redtail.  


I started to climb into my cockpit when I thought of something. I paused and looked over at Spike. "Do you really think that the future is more important then the past?"  


"Yeah. You can't change the past, no matter how much you regret it." He climbed into his cockpit. "But the future is blank, you can always change it. And you can't regret what hasn't happened yet."  


I smiled. For once, the lunkhead was right.   
  


A/N: Thanks to those of you who reviewed this one-shot. I really appreciate it :). If anybody has some constructive criticism on how I can make this better, leave a review. If you hate it, leave a review, but please tell me WHY you hate it. I think this is better then the first version I posted, but there's always room for improvement. 


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